Archive for January, 2008
Tarkosaurus Retch
January 31st, 2008The A.V. Club’s selection of 18 Particularly Ridiculous Prog-rock Album Covers illustrates why the early ’70s might be the most aesthetically unappealing period in history ever. I’m aware that some of the albums they spotlighted come later on, but you get the gist.
Forever My Girl
January 29th, 2008Long, long ago I can remember seeing a clip on Entertainment Tonight of a teenage Paula Abdul frolicking in some godforsaken low-budget musical set in a high school cafeteria. She looked dorky, the song was dorky, and the kitsch gods were smiling down on me. Eighteen-odd years later, I revisited it — and, yeah, it’s […]
Book Review: Art Out of Time
January 26th, 2008Dan Nadel’s Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries 1900-1969 arrived as a Christmas gift from my s.o., who bought it off my Amazon wish list after I blindly put it on there a few years back. Something about the cover design and the concept of trolling through old newspapers for comic obscurities appealed to […]
Mexican House Numbers
January 24th, 2008A gallery of Mexican house numbers, via I Like. Sí, I like.
Cheap Thrill: Children’s Books 1957-69
January 21st, 2008You probably know this already, but we love to thrift. Lately I’ve been spending more time in the kids’ book section. Granted, pawing through endless filthy stacks of cheesy Disney tie-ins and bios of teeny bopper stars from ten years ago can get a little depressing, but the drudge is worth it when coming across […]
Electile Disfunction
January 18th, 2008Jeff of Tin Man fame shares his thoughts on voting in the N.Y. Democratic presidential primary. Like Jeff, it’s also my first time voting in my state’s primary and I’m taking it very seriously. The ballot arrived in the mail this week and now it’s time to do some serious homework on the candidates (For […]
Hitsville U.S.A.
January 15th, 2008We need our little and not so little indulgences every once in a while, right? I did a little post-Christmas splurge and bought The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 6, a box set containing every A- and B-side of every 45 single Motown released in 1966. It’s … amazing. This is part of the ongoing effort […]
It’s All in the Game
January 13th, 2008I still consider myself a gaming neophyte, but from reading the reviews at various sites I could tell that Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros Treasure looked like the kind of quirky, under-the-radar sort of thing that I might enjoy. Although the name leaves something to be desired (honestly, it felt embarassing asking the guy […]
My Bullet’s in the Gun
January 10th, 2008What’s rocking my morning? Check music critic Elisabeth Vincentelli’s great post on the songs that nearly made her Best of 2007 lists. Although all are good, my fave is “My Secret Lover” by a Danish outfit called Private. It’s a wonderfully synthetic, ’80s-tastic retro funk jam that would likely have the scissors of Project Runway’s […]
Alias Smith and Jones
January 10th, 2008Steven Heller’s recent Design Observer rant over bloggers using aliases is less interesting for the post itself than the heated discussion it prompted. Heller’s basic gist is that a designer (or anyone) who uses an online nom de plume is either cowardly or behind the times.
I’ve always been up front about using my real […]
365 Days of Unrepentant Couch Potatoishness
January 6th, 2008Time once again for list of films I saw in the previous year. I counted 131 movies seen in 2007, with only five of them theatrical — which is about average. Not on the page is the fact that I rated each film on a scale of one to five stars. The bulk of what […]
Tennis Injury
January 4th, 2008Today I invited my parents over to the house for lunch and to give the Wii a try. We played a few games of Wii Sports Bowling and they, of course, had a blast. Before leaving, my mom — an avid tennis buff — wanted to give tennis a spin. We were playing a game […]
John Hockenberry’s Dirty Laundry
January 3rd, 2008A must read: John Hockenberry’s scathing account of working at NBC’s network news division in the aftermath of September 11th. Depressing as hell, but tells me all I need to know about the TV news business. (via ArtsJournal)
